Ganguly's achievements

A lot of ppl here just don't get the fact that Ganguly is one of the best players ever! Instead, they resort to berating him. Here's a list of his achievements for you all to ponder over:

1. He is currently 4th in the list of most runs scored in ODIs with 9553 runs at a very respectable average of 42.08.

2. He is 2nd in the most number of centuries hit in ODIs with 22.

3. He has 161 sixes in his OD career. That's only behind Jayasuriya and Afridi. With Tendulkar mellowing down, he's the best six hitter in the Indian team and one of the best in the world.

4. Ganguly is the fastest to reach 7000, 8000 and 9000 runs in OD cricket. He was also the second fastest to reach 6000 runs.

5. He has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year on 5 Occassions.

6. He's got 78 fify-plus scores in 255 matches. So on aveage, he scores a 50 after 3.2 matches.

7. He formed the most successful partnership along with Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs. They scored 5621 runs together at an average of over 49. They once put on 258 runs for the opening wicket and this record still stands. The second highest opening partnership is 252 runs and it was put on by.................Tendualkar and Ganguly!

8. Ganguly and Dravid had a then world record partnership for any wicket of 318 runs against Sri Lanka in the '99 WC. Ganguly scored 183 runs in that match which was also the record for the highest ODI score by an Indian.

9. In the Sahara Cup 1997, Saurav Ganguly set a new World Record for 5 consecutive Man of the Match Awards. He was also the Man of the Series.

10. Saurav Ganguly has the distinction of being one of the few players in the World to Score a century and take 4 wickets in the same match. (ODIs)

11. He is the only captain after 20 years to lead an Indian side into the WC finals.

12. Ganguly made a scintillating 141 when India successfully chased 314 runs for victory against Pakistan in Dhaka. This was a world record chase at the time.

13. Saurav Ganguly scored a Century on Debut at Lords in 1996, and went on to score a century in the very next match as well.

ur right......

A lot of ppl here just don't get the fact that Ganguly is one of the best players ever! Instead, they resort to berating him. Here's a list of his achievements for you all to ponder over:

1. He is currently 4th in the list of most runs scored in ODIs with 9553 runs at a very respectable average of 42.08.

2. He is 2nd in the most number of centuries hit in ODIs with 22.

3. He has 161 sixes in his OD career. That's only behind Jayasuriya and Afridi. With Tendulkar mellowing down, he's the best six hitter in the Indian team and one of the best in the world.

4. Ganguly is the fastest to reach 7000, 8000 and 9000 runs in OD cricket. He was also the second fastest to reach 6000 runs.

5. He has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year on 5 Occassions.

6. He's got 78 fify-plus scores in 255 matches. So on aveage, he scores a 50 after 3.2 matches.

7. He formed the most successful partnership along with Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs. They scored 5621 runs together at an average of over 49. They once put on 258 runs for the opening wicket and this record still stands. The second highest opening partnership is 252 runs and it was put on by.................Tendualkar and Ganguly!

8. Ganguly and Dravid had a then world record partnership for any wicket of 318 runs against Sri Lanka in the '99 WC. Ganguly scored 183 runs in that match which was also the record for the highest ODI score by an Indian.

9. In the Sahara Cup 1997, Saurav Ganguly set a new World Record for 5 consecutive Man of the Match Awards. He was also the Man of the Series.

10. Saurav Ganguly has the distinction of being one of the few players in the World to Score a century and take 4 wickets in the same match. (ODIs)

11. He is the only captain after 20 years to lead an Indian side into the WC finals.

12. Ganguly made a scintillating 141 when India successfully chased 314 runs for victory against Pakistan in Dhaka. This was a world record chase at the time.

13. Saurav Ganguly scored a Century on Debut at Lords in 1996, and went on to score a century in the very next match as well.

And some ppl still don't get it.

very correct but most importantly what most ganguly haters seem to conveniently forget is that ganguly was officialy rated as the SIXTH best one-day batsman of all time by the one & only bible of cricket -the WISDEN ;so i'd rather believe the wisden than some jealous bastard ganguly haters hahaha......

if ODI cricket doesn't matter, then why waste so much time playing them?

And also Ganguly's test record is much better than the record of so called good test batters both in the current era and the past.

odis do matter in the current scheme of things, i guess...but then no one has disputed his value as a one day player anyway...very clearly he hasn't done 1/5th as much in tests and for a period of something like 2 years, he held his place in the indian team purely on the basis of being captain. he has since come out of that god-awful slump, i admit, but putting it mildly, he is not the greatest or most reliable of test batsmen. for a person to whom test cricket is cricket(i believe there are still some of us around...), he has been an average performer at best who enjoys decent crests every once in a while and really deep troughs.

And also Ganguly's test record is much better than the record of so called good test batters both in the current era and the past.

Erm no it's not.

4586 @ 42.07 is poor compared to a hell of a lot of current players:

Hayden, Dravid, Tenudlkar, Smith, Ponting, Kallis, Lara, Gilchrist, Youhana, Inzamam, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Gibbs, Vaughan, Trescothick and Chanderpaul (to name just a few) all have in excess of 2000 Test runs at a better average (and a lot of them have more runs than him as well)

marc71178 - President and founding member of AAAS - we don't only appreciate when he does well, but also when he's not quite so good!

Hayden, Dravid, Tenudlkar, Smith, Ponting, Kallis, Lara, Gilchrist, Youhana, Inzamam, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Gibbs, Vaughan, Trescothick and Chanderpaul (to name just a few) all have in excess of 2000 Test runs at a better average (and a lot of them have more runs than him as well)

umm i never claimed he was a dravid, a tendulkar or a lara. But he IS better than a lot of players you have over there. He's much better than trescothick who only averages 42.91 now and who averaged less than Ganguly before the current series against the WI.

In fact, he's much better than any England player. Vaughan only averages 3 runs more in tests (boosted by his recent scores against a weak WI side) and is a dismal OD player. He makes the OD team only because he is the captain.

He averages 2 runs less than Thorpe and Chanderpaul in tests...there is not much in between them, is there? And ofcourse he's a lot better in ODs.

Nasser Hussain averaged something like 35 in tests and 25 in ODIs. What a worthless player he was and he played 96 tests for England. Moreover he was captain

Butcher averages 37 or something the last time I checked.

A lot of Australian supporters would say Mark Taylor was a great test batter? And what was his average? 40?

more achievements

14. He captained India when they beat England in the 2002 Natwest Finals chasing 325. He scored 60 off just 43 balls opening the batting.

15. He became the most successful captain for India after India won the test series against Pakistan in 2004.

16. In the first test against Australia in 2003-2004, he made a brilliant 144 under pressure. India were 62/3 when he came in. Everyone was expecting him to fail miserably in the series and he ended up averaging 50.

Ganguly

I'm not a Ganguly hater. He does have some great achievements (even if most of them are in ODI's) However, I do believe he is overrated in tests and if it wasn't for his captaincy he'd be out of the team IMO.

Member of MSC - Murali Supporters Club

I'm not too dissimilar a batsman to Bradman.
Both of us have batting averages below 100.

I'm not a Ganguly hater. He does have some great achievements (even if most of them are in ODI's) However, I do believe he is overrated in tests and if it wasn't for his captaincy he'd be out of the team IMO.

That's just because the standard of batting in this Indian test team is very, very high.

Mostly everybody barring Ganguly in the top 6 averages more than 45.
Sure Ganguly has his weaknesses, but he's not as bad as a test batsman as many people like to put it.

He'll be a One Day great, but never a test great thats for sure. But he will be recognised as a decent test player when he retires.

That's just because the standard of batting in this Indian test team is very, very high.

Mostly everybody barring Ganguly in the top 6 averages more than 45.
Sure Ganguly has his weaknesses, but he's not as bad as a test batsman as many people like to put it.

He'll be a One Day great, but never a test great thats for sure. But he will be recognised as a decent test player when he retires.

No doubt he is a good player and he is made to look 'worse' by his extremely talented counterparts, but I still believe some he is rated too highly in tests I don't know how some people can rate him among the best in the world (in tests that is)

umm i never claimed he was a dravid, a tendulkar or a lara. But he IS better than a lot of players you have over there. He's much better than trescothick who only averages 42.91 now and who averaged less than Ganguly before the current series against the WI.

In fact, he's much better than any England player. Vaughan only averages 3 runs more in tests (boosted by his recent scores against a weak WI side) and is a dismal OD player. He makes the OD team only because he is the captain.

He averages 2 runs less than Thorpe and Chanderpaul in tests...there is not much in between them, is there? And ofcourse he's a lot better in ODs.

Nasser Hussain averaged something like 35 in tests and 25 in ODIs. What a worthless player he was and he played 96 tests for England. Moreover he was captain

Butcher averages 37 or something the last time I checked.

A lot of Australian supporters would say Mark Taylor was a great test batter? And what was his average? 40?

As it stands at the moment, I would say Thorpe and Vaughan are better batsmen than Ganguly, and to be honest, Flintoff probably is as well...dont be looking at averages..everyone knows they arent the be all and end all of things. I may even rate Trescothick higher than him..and I have no doubts that players like Strauss and Bell are infact better batsmen who need to prove themselves to be.

Surely Vaughans average was also boosted by him knocking big runs vs Australia as well.

Anyway, I dont rate Ganguly particularly highly as a batsman. Bowl fast and straight and fairly short to him and he ***** himself.He just doesnt have the technique to deal with it. I think he is very lucky not to have batted at Perth vs Lee coz I think he would be made a fool of.This is one of the reasons why he does well in ODI (maybe a bit like BEvan in this way)..he doesnt have to worry too much about short stuff.

Two moments standout for me..and both involve Flintoff..first was in the last series England had in India...Flintoff knew exactly where to bowl to Ganguly,and he ran circles all round him.Great stuff to watch, but Ganguly didnt know what had hit him.
Second was in world cup. England vs India...Flintoff vs Ganguly and Flintoff just made Ganguly look awful, footwork was poor, shot selection was a joke..and that is because Ganguly was bricking it that he was going to get the short stuff.

Of course when conditions suit him, and he gets his eye in he can look really good, but so can a number of batsmen around the world.